1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image shooting and display system used, for example, for observation of a stereoscopic image of a portion of a subject on which a surgical operation is performed by using an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a stereoscopic image shooting and display system of this kind, an endoscope video display apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 6-261860, for example, is known.
FIG. 18A shows the placement and configuration of an observation optical system at a distal end of an endoscope insertion portion in the endoscope video display apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 6-261860, which is an example of an art relating to the present invention. FIG. 18B is a diagram for explaining a parallax adjustment operation of the observation optical system.
This video display apparatus is designed so that the visibility of a stereoscopic image of an object to be observed is improved by measuring the distances between image pickup devices and the object and enabling changing the stereoscopic angle (the amount of left-right parallax) according to the distances.
That is, as shown in FIG. 18A, the distances between a subject M and left and right solid-state image pickup devices 61 and 62 are measured by applying infrared rays from an infrared ray emitting section 52 in a distance measurement section 51 to the subject M and receiving the infrared rays reflected from the subject M with an infrared sensor 53. A control section (not shown in the figure) adjusts the parallax between the left and right solid-state image pickup devices 61 and 62 by driving a parallax adjustment mechanism (not shown in the figure) on the basis of the distances measured by the distance measurement section 51 so that a good stereoscopic image of the object to be observed is obtained.
In the video display apparatus in the related art, the space between the optical axes of the left and right solid-state image pickup devices 61 and 62 is moved to change the stereoscopic angle, as shown in FIG. 18B.